Tae Kwon Do Tournament

This evening, Steven and the girls had a Tae Kwon Do Tournament. And all did very well. Here, Rachel performs her Green Belt Form.
She places 3rd in her division for Form!
Rachel also placed 3rd in sparring. She had a little bit of a panic in the midst of one of her sparring competitions. Her opponent had punched her in the nose! You know, the nose that had a nose job on last November?? The nose that is still pretty tender?? Yea, that nose. But after some tears were shed and after she was looked over by Mom and Dad, she went back into the ring accompanied by the support of clapping onlookers.She had already taken off all her gear by the time this picture was taken.

She did a great job and was VERY pleased with herself and her accomplishment!

2nd Grade Picture

Rachel
7 years old
2011-2012

Cementing Her "D"

We were really at a critical point with Rachel's speech, so we decided that despite it being her birthday, we were going to proceed with our normally scheduled Wednesday afternoon speech session.

Rachel has been having problems with making the "D" sound in her words, especially when they are in the middle of the word (DADDY) and when they are the final letter in a word (hard, card, etc). So for the few weeks leading up to speech on Wednesday, we've really been working on the sound of "D". Drilling it, reenforcing it in our everyday speech, etc.

This last Wednesday, after a little bit of drilling to see where she was, and how she was doing, it was determined that Rachel was ready to 'cement her "D" sound". She'd been hitting it about 90% of the time and it was was time to make it permanent. Thus the reason/need to cement it.Rachel was very proud of her accomplishment, as you can see by the expression in that last picture! It was a fun speech activity to do, even if it was her birthday! :)

Birthday Celebrations!

Rachel's birthday fell smack dab in the middle of the week this year. So her birthday ended up being celebrated all week long!

Her celebration began on Sunday, when I took cupcakes to her Sunday School class. When you turn 7, you move up to the next class, so this was kinda like a 'send off' for her to the 'big kid class'. Her teacher brought balloons and a gift bag with some fun pencils and a notepad. Wednesday was Rachel's actual birthday. She was up and dressed and ready for school in no time, especially when it meant opening presents from Mommy and Daddy and a package that came in the mail from Great Grandma!When Hannah was in 1st grade, it became my tradition to bring the girls lunch on their birthday. Of course Rachel picked McDonalds. And that is what she got! Hannah scored as well, because it was minimum day schedule, her lunch was immediately following Rachel's, so she scored a couple double cheeseburgers as well. :) Rachel had speech following school, and her and Dr. D'Antonio did a special activity, which I'll blog about separately. But later that evening, we went to Applebees for dinner with Gramma and Papa, which is where Rachel picked to eat!

Friday night was the "official celebration event". LOL. It was small and intimate, just the family (grandparents, and cousins) and became even more intimate when Auntie fell sick, Uncle Robbie had a gig with his band, and Gramie couldn't make it down the local mountain pass and it was completely shut down due to an out of control wildfire. But Haylee and McKenzie were spending the night and having the cousins around always makes everything just fine. Rachel got a guitar from Gramma and Papa. And is already rocking out and creating some tunes!Rachel had a great week of birthday celebrating! She's one blessed kid!

2nd Grade!

Hard to believe but the baby of the family started 2nd grade today! Wasn't it just a short time ago that we found out we were pregnant with her?!?We stopped by the school midday Saturday to check out the class lists. I already knew who Rachel's teacher was thanks to the modern day of texting the night before (we were at Disneyland). But it's always fun to see who your classmates are, or aren't! Rachel is in Mrs. Dietz' class. She is one of the two teachers I requested. I'm very happy she got Mrs. Dietz. She's been teaching 5th grade for the last few years, but had taught 2nd grade for many years prior to that. She says she loves this age and is very happy to be back in 2nd grade. It looks like Rachel has a great class this year. There isn't the one classmate well known for his troubles and poor behavior, which was a relief. For the third year in a row, Rachel and Isaiah are classmates once again, and Rachel is happy to have her friend with her once again.

And Off Come the Training Wheels

A few weeks back, Rachel decided she wanted Daddy to take off her training wheels on her bike. And so he did. And after a few tries and Daddy running behind her, she was off....and she's been riding training wheel free ever since! She's a pro!!

To Reschedule or Not to Reschedule the Procedure??

After talking over the events surrounding yesterday's attempted procedure and a few other details surrounding the recommended procedure, with a friend and trusted medical professional, we are going to not reschedule the procedure.

Dr. Martin did not see visible fistula upon examining Rachel's palate so at this time we're going to wait and see if the hyper-nasality continues to lessen.

Procedure Update

Knowing that Rachel's procedure was fully covered in prayer this morning, it didn't feel right when so many things were wrong.

They Rachel scheduled for a procedure that required sedation!!! The insurance coverage wasn't what I thought it should be. And there was just a lot of confusion surrounding all the financial stuff.

So I opted to not have the procedure done and we came home.

Thank You all for your prayers surrounding this appointment, they really were appreciated!!!


"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace..."
1 Corinthians 14:33

Prayers for a Procedure

Tomorrow morning, (check in at 9:00, procedure at 9:30), Rachel will be having a special procedure done to rule out the possibility of a fistula (hole) in her palate.

The procedure is called a fistulagram and it involves her swishing contrast around in her mouth and then having a special Xray done to see if and where the contrast travels, thus ruling out or confirming a hole, depending on where it travels.

I'm starting to get a little nervous about how she's going to react to having to swish the contrast around in her mouth, I'm sure it tastes nasty.

Would you please be praying that 1) Rachel cooperates with taking the contrast and swishing about and that 2) the results would be negative for a fistula (no hole). Prayers would be very much appreciated! Thank You!!!

When we get the results, I'll be sure to share them.

A Dental CT Scan

When Rachel had her "special tooth" extracted a few weeks ago, our Pediatric dentist was telling me about a new CT machine that her husbands (he's a dentist too!) office had gotten, just that week. It's the latest and greatest in 3D Xray that allows you splice and move and plan out the dental care of patients for example with orthodontics and oral surgery.

A couple of days after our appointment, we received a call from our dentist informing us that if we brought Rachel in within the next two weeks, for them to practice on Rachel, they'd do the scans free of charge. We took advantage of that idea and worked out a time in which everyone was available. That appointment was this morning.

This new machine circles your head and scans it while you stand still. Rachel did perfect! She stood still and bit the stick as best as she could. Within 10-15 minutes, the scans started to download on the nearby computer. The scans were amazing! Mr. Doctor Hoffer sat and spliced through the scans and together with Rachel's dentist, they kinda sorted out what tooth was what. They were very appreciative of me allowing them to use Rachel as it was interesting to them to see all the adult teeth forming within her gums, not to mention the obvious of her issues of having been born with a cleft. He's going to take her scans and consult with a few orthodontists to see what they think and share the technology with them. But it was amazing to see.

It looks like Rachel has all her adult teeth! Her 12 year molars are already growing and she has many adult teeth starting to push their way up on to the baby teeth. You could also see the area where her bone graft was done. It was all very interesting, and I'm thankful for the opportunity for my kid to be used as a guinea pig! :) Click on the picture to enlarge.
They burned the images, as well as the software to a CD which I was able to bring home and have Steven load on to our computer and he could see the scans for himself. This will be helpful to have with Rachel's medical file that I keep.

The End of 1st Grade

It's been a busy few weeks, a busy few days. But the girls ended the 2010-2011 school year this afternoon.

Last night after bedtime prayers, Rachel started to cry. She was sad and expressed how much she was going to miss Mrs. Thompson, her wonderful 1st grade teacher. The tears resurfaced this morning before breakfast. Rachel again expressed how much she was going to miss her teacher and her friends.

She made it through the morning, packing up what was left of her belongings in her desk. Made the most adorable frog hats. Had a special time on the carpet where the teacher called each student up and asked what their favorite thing about 1st grade was and then she said something nice about each student and then presented them with a bag of Skittles. The note attached to the bag of Skittles said this:

"You've made it to the top of my chart and heart and now you're ready to Skittle Up to 2nd grade! Congratulations!"

Almost the entire school year, a behavior chart, called the Skittle Chart, has been in place. Depending on what color your clip landed on at the end of the day determined how many Skittles you got. However, due to nutritional rules set in place about a month ago, the reward of Skittles was tossed out the window. But the bag of Skittles and nice note accompanying it was a nice way to end the year.

The minimum day school bell rang and that symbolized the end of the day. Cheers and happy hollering could be heard throughout the school grounds. Rachel had made it through the day just fine, until Mrs. Thompson stood at the door, giving her 1st graders one last hug and goodbye. Once Rachel stepped away, she fell apart, sobbing. Thus resulted in the Mommy shedding some tears too.

Rachel has had a wonderful 1st grade school year. Despite having some really challenging classmates, that at times made learning difficult, she has had a great school year!

Her teacher was absolutely amazing! The challenges she faced on a daily basis were more than any one person should have to deal with, but she always handled the circumstances with such patience and calmness. However, I'm sure there was that underlying desire to want to beat the kid on more than one occasion. :) We tried to convince her move up to 2nd grade, but she's perfectly happy where she's at.

So today, we said goodbye to 1st grade, and thankful we've had such an amazing teacher, Mrs. Thompson!

Appointment with Dr Martin

It's hard to believe that next week will be 7 months since Rachel's bone graft and nose revision!

We had a follow up appointment with her plastic surgeon this afternoon. We had a letter from our Speech Therapist outlining some concerns she had in regards to Rachel's hyper-nasality in her speech from time to time and her concern for a possible fistula (hole) in the palate.

Dr. Martin checked out Rachel's nose and inside her mouth and while he didn't see anything, he went ahead and ordered a Fistulagram.

The procedure is a special XRAY whereas Rachel will need to swish contrast about in her mouth and then they'll Xray her facial bones to see if the contrast finds any holes in her palate and the contrast travels. This procedure is pretty accurate and this will give us an answer as to whether or not Rachel has a hole in her palate, or if she's just lazy in her speech. I'm pretty sure it's the latter. But it'll be nice to have a test to rule out the other.

The Virginia Reel

I've shared before that the girls both attend a Magnet School for the performing and visual arts. At the end of every school year, the school hosts an open house whereas kids artwork can be displayed as well as see various performances throughout the campus. Today was our school's open house.

Rachel's class learned and performed the Virginia Reel. They then taught three other classes how to do the dance as well. Rachel ended up being one of the lead couples! She is the one in the blue gingham dress and pigtails.

Rachel's "Special Tooth"

Rachel had this tooth that was in the cleft of her alveolar ridge (the clefting in the gum). It was high up in her gum, and you really couldn't see it unless you lifted her lip. We've always called it her "special tooth".

This tooth has been a constant headache for years. It's hard to brush and hard to keep clean.

When Rachel had a dental appointment in March, this tooth had developed some decay on the backside of the tooth. Since her bone grafting surgery in November, the tooth had adjusted a little bit and was more exposed.

After consulting with Rachel's plastic surgeon, he gave his okay to have the tooth filled or extracted. She was far enough post op that either was fine.

We opted for the extraction.

So this afternoon, Rachel had her special tooth pulled. While this picture is blurry, this gives you an idea of how Rachel's upper teeth looked, prior to the extraction. You can see a tooth that is a little darker on the top, growing in sideways, that is her 'special tooth'. Or shall I say "was". It's now in a little treasure box waiting to be placed under her pillow. It was a little sad watching this tooth we've referred to as her "special tooth' be pulled. It's just another step in this journey.

Our Pediatric dentist is awesome! Her prescription for pain relief...a free yogurt at Golden Spoon!!! Which is totally awesome because that's always where we stop on our way home from dental appointments. Here Rachel is holding her Rx, mouth full of gauze, and red marks on her nose from where the nitrous gas mask made indentations. Rachel did awesome with the extraction. Our dentist is the best and makes sure there's no pain and the experience is overall a pleasant one, which in Rachel's case, with as much work as she's had done on her mouth and will have in the future is a huge bonus!

Playing Catch Up

It's been almost two months since I've blogged on any of my three blogs. It seems life has just been busy, or I've been too busy, which is probably the better thing to say.

The last few months have had a few events worthy of sharing...

In Mid April, Rachel's 1st grade class, along with another class, walked about a mile to the local Stater Bros for a tour. Thankfully it was a nice overcast morning and the walk was actually quite nice. Having known someone who's worked for the company for 40+ years (my Dad!), he worked his magic of knowing the right people and we had an amazing tour! Just as good as the one Rachel had when she was in preschool. Although on this trip, the kids each received little nylon Stater Bros backpacks! Which was really cool! Two weekends ago, Rachel participated in her very first Tae Kwon Do Tournament! She was so very excited for the event and did awesome! She got 2nd place for her Purple Belt Form, and she came in 4th for sparring! She was very pleased with herself and her trophy, so much so that she took the trophy to school the very next day to share!Last week marked the one year anniversary of Rachel receiving speech. She's come a long way over the last year and I think we're finally on the homestretch of nearing the end of weekly therapy. Rachel loves to talk, and sometimes talks nonstop. Over the weekend she mastered two new words with the "R" sound we've been working on - 'Dork' and 'Nerd'. It's nice to be paying out the bucks for speech therapy so that you can understand when you're child calls you names. LOL.

Rachel has less than four weeks left of the 1st grade and is doing extremely well! When the end of the school year approaches and it's been a great school year, with an awesome teacher, I tend to get sad. And that is exactly how I feel in regards to Rachel's teacher. She's absolutely amazing and I am so glad I've been able to be a part of her class every Monday morning and be available to help her in various other ways throughout the school year. Teacher requests have already been made for next school year and hopefully Rachel will have the same teacher Hannah had for 2nd grade and it'll be a good school year once again.

In two weeks Rachel sees her dentist and will more than likely have what we refer to as her "Special Tooth" extracted. This tooth is where her cleft was in her gum and always been quite a challenge to keep clean. Now that the back is exposed more, thanks to the bone grafting surgery in November, the back is decaying and it either needs to be filled, or extracted. After consulting with our plastic surgeon, he said since it's been at least 3 months since bone grafting, then either route is fine. Since it is a baby tooth we'll probably go the extraction route. We'll wait and see what our dentist wants to do the day of the appointment.

It's almost been 6 months since Rachel's surgery. It's hard to believe it's been that long, and yet, hard to believe it's only been that short of time. We have a follow up appointment the first week of June with her plastic surgeon and it'll be nice to hear what he says and thinks 6 months post op. That appointment also falls after Rachel's dental appointment, so he'll be able to see how that went as well. The cartilage in Rachel's nose is finally starting to loosen. Her nose has been so hard since surgery, and now, just as Dr. Martin had predicted, it's all softening. I've been following the story of a 9 year old boy who had his bone graft surgery this week, and all I can say is, I'm so thankful to have that part of the journey behind us...